Double-Rape Suspect's Trial Underway As He Remains Free On $1 Million Bond In Banning

BANNING, CA — Testimony is slated to wrap up before the end of the week in the trial of a 43-year-old Banning man accused of raping two women on separate occasions while they were intoxicated, as well as molesting his girlfriend's 12-year-old daughter.

Steven Roy McElroy was arrested in 2022 following an extensive Banning Police Department investigation that relied on statements from alleged victims going back a decade. McElroy is charged with two counts each of forcible rape and aggravated assault, as well as one count of lewd acts on a minor.

The prosecution began calling witnesses last week at the Banning Justice Center, and the government's final witness was expected to be summoned Wednesday. It was unclear whether McElroy intended to take the stand in his own defense.

He's free on a $1 million bond.

The defendant was charged for the alleged assault on the 12-year-old girl, identified in court documents only as "S.D.," in March 2022. Banning police detectives received information afterward concerning two women -- "A.S." and "N.H." -- who alleged they had been sexually assaulted by him on different occasions in 2015 and 2016.

According to Detective Jack Loera, A.S. and N.H. heard about the child molestation charge and decided to speak to police.

A.S. began dating McElroy in 2014, after they became re-acquainted following a long period of no contact since they had attended junior high school together in San Bernardino County, according to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney's Office.

The woman acknowledged she had engaged in consensual sex with the defendant several times, but on an unspecified night in 2015, she and McElroy were with a group of friends when she became unwell after drinking too much and went back to his apartment in Grand Terrace to sleep, assuming he had remained with the group, prosecutors said.

"After a few hours' sleep, she woke to the defendant having lifted up her shirt -- exposing her breasts -- and lying on top of her saying, `It's okay, just real quick, just real quick, come on,"' the brief stated.

The woman told detectives that she repeatedly said, "No," but McElroy used his body weight to restrain her completed the alleged sexual assault two minutes later, prosecutors said. A.S. left afterward.

Asked why it took so long for her to make the allegation, she said she didn't think authorities would take her seriously regarding the alleged rape at the time, so she waited for N.H. to make her allegations before disclosing her own, according to court papers.

The brief said that McElroy and N.H. were leasing an apartment together and began socializing casually, but not intimately. In January 2016, the defendant and victim joined friends to go bar hopping in Grand Terrace, and both became intoxicated, the brief said.

When they returned to their shared residence in the predawn hours, the woman went to her room and shut the door.

"While lying in bed, the defendant entered N.H.'s room without permission," the brief said "N.H. sat up on the edge of her bed and told the defendant to go back to his own room, but the defendant ignored this order."

McElroy allegedly began kissing the woman, shoving her backward and then laying on top of her to restrain her, prosecutors said. Though she told him "`no' at least six times," he allegedly engaged in non-consensual "sex with N.H. for two minutes," court papers said.

The original incident that led to all of the charges occurred on Dec. 26, 2021, according to the brief.

The girl, S.D., later told police that she initially considered McElroy a friend because he had been dating her mother, whose identity was not disclosed, since 2018. However, the day after Christmas, while he was visiting their Banning home, he entered the youth's bedroom uninvited, according to the brief.

McElroy asked whether the girl would "like to cuddle," and she consented, but as he hugged her, "the defendant moved his hand and reached into the front of her shirt, proceeding to squeeze her left breast," court papers alleged.

"While he was doing this, the defendant asked if what he was doing was okay, and she said no," the brief said.

He abruptly left the room.

The girl told her mother, also divulging she had seen McElroy watching her through a bathroom window as she showered, culminating in the Banning police investigation.

McElroy has a felony conviction in another jurisdiction that wasn't listed in court documents.